Wooden floor



July 0,1925.

" J. T. BREECE WOODEN FLOOR Filed Feb. 11,-1926 Patented July 20, 1926.

301-1111. BREECE OF PORTSMOUTH, OHIO.

woonnn moon.

4 Application filed February 5 employed as to provide, at a cost less than the cost of an ordinary tongue and groove flooring, a flooring which has superior finish; greater durability; freedom from cracking, curling and warping; freedom from squeaks; and which is air and Watertight. j

p The invention makes use of the fact, which has heretofore been established in the manufacture of high grade pieces of furniture sucha's table tops, thatindividual .strips of woodmay be permanently glued up into a unit structure wherein the strength of the glued joints in relation to the capacity of the wooden stripstoexpand and contract within themselves under different conditions of moisturea'nd temperature is such that the unity of the structure will not be destroyed, the expansion and contraction being so distributed and controlled" thatthe develop- F ment of-cracks, curling, warping and squeaking is prevented. It is quitepossible. so to glue together properlycut and properly proportioned pieces of wood that the joints will be stronger than the wood, and from that point ofviewthe improved wooden flooring ,of the invention may ,be. regarded as a it nitary structure in Whichthe glued joints are the strongest sections holding the WOOClGIl strips together, while that expan sion and contraction which necessarily occurs under varying atmospheric, conditions is taken up within the wooden strips themselves without breaking the joints or warpine -0 cra k ngth o din carrying out the nvention, the unitary floor construct on is built up of individual flooring strips, properly cut and. of proper width andthickness. ,It has been found that, with reasonable adherence to good mill practicein the choice and application of the glue, flooring strips of. the standard widths .andthicknesses now comnionly employed in good floorconstruction Nmay be used. For e ample, on may mp oy W p t cess-.-wooden flooringstrips from.% inchto 1 inch thick and from 1 to 5 inches wide; but it 'ispreferabletoincrease the thickness of the strips more or less as 7 their width increases. That is, while it is quite satisfactory to employ flooring strips as wideas? int eer li sr they are ly inch 11, 1926. Serial No. 87,627.

thick, it is desirable to makea thicker strip if they are to be as much as 4 or 5 inches wide. The object in any case is to establish such a relation between the thickness-and the width that the total volume of any strip between the joints will be sufficient to take up the expansion and contraction and consequently the glued joints will hold the floor together without the developmentof cracks in the portion of the strips lying between the glued joints. 7

For the purpose of making a glued joint of the desired strength andpern'ianence, the,

flooring strips arecut with squared edges and preferably without tongues and grooves. The squared meeting edges of the strips af ford extended parallel contacting surfaces forv the glued joints, and avoidthe tendency for-the strips to becomedistorted atthe joints, which tendency has heretofore resulted in an uneven surface. Sawed squared edges provide the best surface for the glue. The elimination. of. the tongues and grooves also reduces the wastage and the cost of manufacture.

The flooring strips having, thus been cut, preferablysawed, with squared edges, are built up at the mill into flooring sheets of standard width, and either of standard length or of special length particularly appropriate to the floor into which the "sheets are to be built. This building up of the strips into sheets is effected at the mill by gluing the individual strips together in much the way that wooden strips have heretofore been glued together to make table tops ,or to make cores for veneered table tops, doors, and the like; that is, the glue is properly spread on the squared edges and the strips are then forced into contact with one another and heldunder pressure, by suitable clamps, or by automatic machinery, until the glue has set. In building up these sheets at the mill, it is possible to have the Wood selected and matched by skilled men in any case where thatis desirable. A width of 12 inches is a convenient one for these flooringsheetsbut it shouldbe understood that the width selected will depend upon such considerations .as the size of the whole floor, the. convenience of handling, and other circumstances peculiar to the job of laying the floor.

,It ,is convenient and desirable, after the flooring sheets have been, built up at i the mill, t s je them here impress s-e finishing by machine y, or even by hand, thereby eliminating or substantially reducing the tedious and costly finishing operation at the job. The so-constructed flooring sheets are shipped from the mill to the job, and may there be laid by the carpen ers, either directly upon the floor joists or upon a sub-flooring, as may be desired, but it is a valuable characteristic of the improved flooring that it lends itself to the cheaper construction of floors in which no sub-flooring employed, because the completed floor constructed in accordance with the invention will be air and watertight.

In laying the floor at the job, the flooring sheets will be laid upon the joists or upon the sub-floor one after the other and secured together by applying glue to the meeting edges of the sheets and then pressing them together. It is found'desirable to secure the flooring sheets to the joists or sub-floor by nailing while the meeting edges are still pressed together, but the amount of this nailing may be reduced, as compared with ordinary strip flooring, because of the floor-sheetconstruction.

This flooring construction lends itself very well to a case in which a border is provided around the floor. In that case the border sections may be made up to specification at the mill with all the effect of a piece of cabinet work, and the space within the border will be filled up at the job by laying in the appropriately cut flooring sheets in the manner already described.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one corner of a room laid with a border within which has been secured in place one flooring sheet made in accordance with this invention, and another flooring sheet ready to be laid in place is shown;

Fig. 2 shows two square-edged flooring strips with their adjacent edges glued together.

The drawing illustrates the invention applied to a simple floor construction having a plain central section with a surrounding border. The drawing shows one corner of a room with the border sections in place. one flooring sheet already laid up against the border sections, and a second flooring sheet ready to be laid against the first. Each flooring sheet is composed of a number of wooden strips of uniform thick ess and preferably uniform wit th, though not necessarily so, with the edges sawed at right angles to the surface and devoid of tongue and groove. These edges are permanently secured together by a layer of glue applied at the mill in conjunction with suitable means or apparatus for forcing the strips together and holding them under pressure until the glue has set into permanent joints which will, if a good glue is used, be stronger than the wood itself. These flooring strips may vary in length as illustrated in he drawing. The sheets made up at the mill will be of standard length or of a length corresponding to the specification of the particular job, and preferably will be completely planed, sanded and finished at the mill so that, when laid into the complete floor, little or no planing, sanding or polishing will be necessary. 7

A complete floor built up in the manner described has many advantages over the ordinary tongue and groove. floor. It effects a substantial saving in cost of manufacture, both by the saving in material resulting from the elimination of the tongue and grom'e, and by the swing of labor incident to making the tongue and groove. It lends itself to selection of the wood and to the substantial comgletion of the finishing operation at the mill. The laying of the floor is economical because the work is reduced in proportion to the number of the sheets as compared with the greater number of strips in the ordinary flooring, and this results in a substantial saving of labor. Furthermore, the wider sheets very substantially reduce the difiiculty of laying the last portion of the floor which becomes troublesome when narrow strips are used because of the contracted space in which the work must be done. The completed floor is a unit smoothed and polished, with no cracks to receive dirt or moisture; it is air and watertight, will take a perfect finish, will not wrap or crack or develop waviness at the joints and will not squeak.

On the whole, it may be said that the finished flooring has all of those desirable features which have heretofore been the aim of good floor construction, and yet it; may be produced and laid at less expense than the present tongue and groove flooring.

I am aware that it has heretofore been proposed to glue together the neighboring edges of ordinary tongued and grooved flooring strips united into flooring sheets by spaced cleats extending transversely of the sheet and to which the individual strips are nailed, the said cleats affording addi- 1 tional means supplementing the glued tongue and groove joints for securing the individual strips together, as wellas means for supporting the sections upon and securing them to a sub-floor. I do not claim any such arrangement as that, it having been my experience that it is impossible by the use of glue, with or without nails, to fasten tongued and grooved flooring strips to any support so securely that the floor will not develop waviness and breaks at the joints under changing atmospheric conditions.

I claim:

1. A wooden floor .made up of square edged flooring strips running parallel to one another throughout the body of the floor and glued together at their squared edges 7 to form a unitary floor structure in which the glued square-edged joints are sufficient in themselves to hold the flooring strips securely together, the flooring strips being individually of such width and thickness as to take up within the wood between the glued joints the expansion and contraction incident to atmospheric conditions, whereby distortion and breaking of the joints and cracking of the wood between the joints are prevented.

2. A wooden flooring sheet adapted for the building up of a unitary floor structure, consisting of a number of square-edged flooring strips running parallel to one another and forming a sheet of substantially greater length than width, the individual strips being glued together at their squared edges in glued square-edged joints sufficient in themselves to hold the flooring strips securely together, the individual flooring strips being of such width and thickness so as to take up within the wood between the glued joints the expansion and contraction incident toatniospheric conditions, whereby distortion and breaking of the joints and cracking of the wood are prevented.

3. A wooden floor made up of flooring strips running parallel to one another throughout the body of the floor, the said strips being glued together at their neighboring edges to form a unitary structure in which the glued joints are sufficient in themselves to hold the flooring strips securely together, and being laid directly on a structural foundation.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOHN T. BREEGE. 

